Progressive Building Society

Progressive Building Society is a Northern Ireland building society that offers savings accounts and Cash ISAs to savers across the UK, and mortgages to people buying or remortgaging homes in Northern Ireland. It is a mutual: its own words are that "Our customers are 'Members' because we are a mutual society", owned and run for the benefit of members rather than outside shareholders¹. It is a member of the Building Societies Association, the sector's trade body².

The Society's mortgage side is deliberately regional. It lends only on properties within Northern Ireland, and its branch network is concentrated there, in towns including Belfast, Glengormley, Ballymena, Lisburn, Bangor, Derry/Londonderry, Coleraine, Newtownards, Enniskillen, Omagh and Portadown³. Its savings side, including its Cash ISA range, is not tied to where you live, so savers elsewhere in the UK can hold accounts with the Society.

Savings accounts and Cash ISAs at Progressive

Progressive's savings range is built around Cash ISAs and taxable savings accounts. On the ISA side it offers ISA flexibility on two products: its Cash ISA Account and its 1 Year Double Access Cash ISA Account. ISA flexibility means that if you withdraw money and put it back within the same tax year, the replacement money does not eat into your annual ISA allowance, provided the account terms allow it⁶.

The range is deliberately narrow. Progressive states plainly that it does not offer the Stocks and Shares ISA, the Innovative Finance ISA or the Lifetime ISA⁶. So if you want to hold investments inside an ISA wrapper, or save for a first home or later life with the government bonus a Lifetime ISA can bring, that part of your money would need to sit with a different provider. Progressive also applies a rule worth knowing before you split your annual allowance: it can only accept subscriptions to one Cash ISA product in the same tax year⁶. You can still hold ISAs from previous years with other providers, and you can hold a Cash ISA with one provider and a Stocks and Shares ISA with another in the same tax year under the general ISA rules.

There is a further rule for people who have inherited an ISA allowance from a spouse or civil partner who has died. Progressive can only accept an inherited ISA allowance where the deceased was an existing member and held their Cash ISA with the Society, and the surviving spouse or civil partner may only make a one-off permitted subscription to their Progressive Cash ISA. Progressive says it is unable to accept multiple subscriptions of this kind⁶. If your late partner's ISA was elsewhere, the inherited allowance would need to be used with that provider or moved under the rules that apply to permitted subscriptions.

For everyday saving outside an ISA, the general principles are the same as across the building society sector: easy access accounts let you withdraw at short notice, while notice accounts and fixed rate bonds trade access for the terms they offer. How interest is paid, and when it is credited, varies by account, and the details are set out in each account's summary box and terms and conditions before you open it⁷.

Moving an ISA to or from Progressive takes up to 15 working days

If you are moving a Cash ISA to Progressive, the transfer will normally take up to 15 working days from the date Progressive receives your request. Transfers out to another provider usually take the same time, up to 15 working days once the request is received⁶. When the money arrives from your old provider, Progressive credits it to your Cash ISA within 3 business days of receiving it and the accompanying information⁷.

The mechanics matter more than the timescale. An ISA transfer is a transfer between providers, not a withdrawal by you: if you simply take the money out and pay it into a new ISA yourself, you lose the tax-free status of the money and it may count as a fresh subscription against your allowance. The standard process across the industry is that you contact the provider you want to move to and complete its ISA transfer form, and the new provider then arranges everything with the old one⁸. Some societies ask you to post the completed form or take it into a branch, and then manage the whole process, notifying your existing provider themselves⁹.

One rule catches people out with current-year money. If you have paid money into a Cash ISA with another provider during the current tax year, you must transfer all of those current year payments to Progressive. Progressive states that current year contributions cannot be split or partly transferred⁶. Money from earlier tax years can be transferred in full or in part.

Progressive accepts transfers in of Cash ISAs and Stocks and Shares ISAs into a defined set of its accounts, including its Cash ISA (Issue 5 onwards), its Online Cash ISA, its Fixed and Variable Rate ISA Bonds, and its 1 Year Double Access Cash ISA in branch and online versions⁶. Note that a Stocks and Shares ISA transferred into a Progressive Cash ISA becomes cash: the investments are sold and the proceeds are held as savings.

Progressive mortgages: Northern Ireland properties only

Progressive provides two main types of mortgage: repayment and interest-only³. With a repayment mortgage you pay off capital and interest each month, so the balance falls over time. With an interest-only mortgage your monthly payments cover the interest only, and the loan itself is repaid at the end from a separate plan. Progressive requires a repayment plan in place for interest-only lending, and gives examples of what that might be: a personal pension lump sum, a Stocks and Shares ISA, or proceeds from another property sale³. The loan amount on an interest-only mortgage is restricted to a percentage of the purchase price or property value³.

Most people choose a fixed or variable special rate when taking out a Progressive mortgage. When that deal period ends, the mortgage automatically moves to the Society's Standard Variable Rate (SVR) unless you move to a new deal³. The mortgage term, meaning the length of the loan, can be anything from 6 years to 40 years³. A longer term lowers the monthly payment but increases the total interest paid over the life of the loan; a shorter term does the opposite.

The defining feature is geography. Progressive Building Society only lends on properties within Northern Ireland⁵. For buyers in England, Scotland or Wales, that means Progressive is not an option. For buyers in Northern Ireland, it means a locally based lender with branches in the main towns, and staff who work with Northern Ireland property transactions, including cases involving the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, where the Society can confirm title for a charge set out in its Tariff of Charges¹⁰.

As part of the application, Progressive values the property. It sometimes uses an Automated Valuation Model (AVM) to give an indication of the estimated value, rather than always sending a surveyor³. A valuation for the lender's purposes is not a survey of the property's condition, and Progressive suggests that if you want an independent survey you use a surveyor who should ideally be registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)³. For more on the process of buying a home, see our guide to buying a home.

Mortgage fees and charges: how the Tariff of Charges works

Progressive sets out its mortgage charges in a document called the Tariff of Charges, published on its website¹⁰. The Society may charge for reasonable administrative and legal costs in accordance with that Tariff, including where it has to deal with arrears¹¹. The Tariff is the place to check what a particular action will cost before you take it, because the charges are specific to the task being carried out.

The way the charges work is fairly consistent across the industry. Some fees are charged once at the start: mortgage application fees differ from product to product, for example between fixed and variable rate deals, and Progressive advises them on request or by reference to its current lending package¹⁰. Valuation fees are told to you for the specific mortgage deal, and Progressive publishes a set scale of valuation fees on its website and in branch³. Other fees are charged only if a particular event happens: changing your repayment method, requesting a copy of a certificate of interest, a partial release of property from the mortgage, a transfer of equity, or an unpaid Direct Debit each carry their own charge in the Tariff¹⁰. Fees for some third-party work, such as transferring funds on a remortgage, are available from your solicitor rather than from the Society¹⁰.

Two charges deserve particular attention because they can be substantial. If you switch to a different mortgage product, the fee might be a flat amount or a percentage of the loan amount, depending on the deal¹⁰. And if the Society has to take legal action, there is a litigation fee charged on an annual basis while the matter runs, plus a legal documentation fee¹⁰. At the end of the mortgage there are exit-related fees for producing and sealing the deeds¹⁰.

Because figures change with the Society's lending packages, this page does not quote individual amounts. The current Tariff of Charges on Progressive's own website is the authoritative list, and it is worth reading it before applying, so that nothing in it comes as a surprise later.

Overpaying your mortgage and early repayment charges

Overpaying means paying more than your required monthly payment, in order to reduce the balance and the interest charged. At Progressive, the amount you owe and the interest you are charged reduce from the date the overpayment is credited to your account, so the timing of a payment affects when the benefit starts¹².

The limit to understand is the annual overpayment allowance. Overpayments of more than 10% of the balance outstanding, or a full repayment of the mortgage, will incur an Early Repayment Charge¹². The allowance runs each year, starting either from the date of the original mortgage completion or from the start date of your latest interest rate deal¹². There is also a minimum size for overpayments and capital payments, and capital payments are subject to your account terms and conditions¹².

The Early Repayment Charge itself is normally a percentage of the amount of mortgage balance repaid¹⁰. The Society's mortgage conditions describe it as a charge based on an amount of interest due on the amount repaid, together with any other amounts set out in the Mortgage Offer, and it applies if you pay back all or any of the principal within an interest rate deal period¹³. In other words, the charge exists because the special rate you were given was priced on the assumption you would keep the loan for the deal period. This is standard across the market: other building societies apply early repayment charges if you repay all or part of the loan, switch product, or redeem before the end of the charge period, with the amount varying by contract¹⁴.

The practical points are these. Check your Mortgage Offer for the exact allowance and charge that applies to your deal, because they differ between products. Keep within the allowance if you want to avoid the charge, and remember the allowance resets each year, so a large overpayment can sometimes be split across two allowance years. Once the deal period ends and the mortgage moves to the Standard Variable Rate, the Early Repayment Charge no longer applies³.

Who can get a Progressive mortgage and how to apply

To borrow with Progressive Building Society you must be over 18⁵. Before agreeing a loan, a credit search and full application are required, and the Society's lending requirements must be met². Whether Progressive provides credit will depend on your circumstances, and lending terms and conditions apply⁵. As part of the assessment, Progressive carefully checks your income and expenditure using an Affordability Assessment³. This is the standard process across the mortgage market: you can apply for a mortgage direct to a building society or other lender, or use a mortgage broker to help you¹⁵. If you are an existing member of the Society, you could benefit from its Member Mortgage Referral Scheme².

One condition of the mortgage is buildings insurance. Progressive states that it will be a condition of your mortgage that you have buildings insurance in place for your property³. This is normal: most mortgage lenders require you to hold buildings insurance, and it is usually a condition of any mortgage for a homeowner¹⁶. The Society's mortgage conditions require the property to be insured against the usual risks, such as fire and flood, for an amount sufficient to fully reinstate the property if destroyed, and the Mortgage Offer states whether the Society or the borrower arranges the insurance¹³.

You do not have to buy insurance through Progressive. The Society can make a referral to Axa Home Insurance to provide a quotation, and you may be eligible for a discount when referred by the Society, but the cover is provided by Axa, not underwritten by Progressive³. Shopping around for buildings insurance is generally worthwhile, as prices and cover vary between insurers¹⁷. For protection cover such as life insurance, Progressive may refer you to the mortgage advice firm Mortgage Advice Bureau. The Society itself is unable to offer any advice on the suitability of protection or investment products³. See our guides to insurance and protection insurance for how these products work.

A final point worth knowing: Progressive's mortgage calculator, like all lenders' calculators, is for illustrative purposes only and is not a mortgage offer, and the monthly repayments it shows are based on a repayment type mortgage over the term selected². For how your credit history affects a mortgage application, see credit scores and credit reports.

Paying your mortgage: Direct Debit, standing order and other methods

Progressive offers several ways to make your monthly mortgage payment: Direct Debit, standing order, faster payment and debit card¹².

Direct Debit is the most hands-off option. It automatically collects the mortgage payment each month from your bank account, and if the monthly payment changes, for example after an interest rate change, Progressive automatically collects the new amount and you do not need to inform your bank¹². To set one up, you print the Direct Debit form and return it to a local Progressive branch with a recent bank statement for the paying account¹².

A standing order gives you control but puts the work on you. You must set it up to make the mortgage payment each month on the due date of your payment, and if the monthly payment changes you must tell your bank and adjust the amount yourself¹². The reference is critical: you must include your Progressive Mortgage Account Number, found on your mortgage statement, to help the Society identify your payment, and without it funds may be returned to your bank¹². This is not unique to Progressive; other societies also return payments that arrive without the mortgage account number as the reference¹⁴.

Faster payments use the same bank details as the standing order, including the Progressive Mortgage Account Number¹². Debit card payments are more restricted: Progressive can accept them where you have missed a monthly payment and wish to make up the payment which was due, and these go through the Mortgage Support Team¹².

If you are making a capital payment rather than a monthly payment, it needs to be identified as such. Progressive asks that the payment is clearly marked as a capital payment so it is recorded on your account, and that the 11 digit Progressive Mortgage Account Number is included as the reference¹². Capital payments are subject to your account terms and conditions, including the overpayment allowance described above¹².

If you struggle with repayments: support under the Mortgage Charter

Progressive Building Society has signed up to the Mortgage Charter¹¹. The Charter is a set of commitments lenders can join: if you are having problems with your mortgage, you could get help from your lender if they have signed up, and it includes help with high interest rates and repayment problems¹⁸. Under the Charter, borrowers who are finding it hard to pay their mortgage repayments but have not yet missed a repayment can be eligible for support¹⁹.

Progressive's own commitment is to find a personalised, sustainable repayment plan for your mortgage to support you through a difficult period¹¹. A first step many people fear is unnecessary: Progressive states that simply contacting it to discuss your mortgage or your options will not impact your credit file³. What can negatively affect your credit rating is falling behind on the payments themselves²⁰. Lenders generally have a duty to help if you are struggling, which could include reducing your monthly payments or taking a break from them for a few months²¹.

Progressive also points to practical support. It suggests using the MoneyHelper budget tool to help you take more control of your money²⁰. If someone is acting as a guarantor on your mortgage, it advises telling them about your circumstances²⁰. And it warns about companies that may contact you offering payday loans and similar products as a short-term solution to debt concerns, noting these may not be the best long-term option²⁰. Free, impartial debt help is available from charities and from MoneyHelper, and our guide to debt sets out the options.

Beyond your lender, the benefits system can help with housing costs. Homeowners receiving a qualifying benefit may be able to get help with their mortgage interest payments through Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI), which is offered as a repayable loan secured on the home²². Carers and people on certain benefits may also be eligible for this kind of support²³. If money is tight, it is worth checking what you could claim through benefits alongside speaking to your lender.

Branches, complaints and how your savings are protected

Progressive has a branch network across Northern Ireland. Its own pages give the count differently in different places, as 11 branches in one document and 13 branch offices plus Head Office in another, so treat the exact number as somewhere in that range; the locations named include Belfast Wellington Place, Glengormley, Ballymena, Lisburn, Bangor, Derry/Londonderry, Coleraine, Newtownards, Enniskillen, Omagh and Portadown⁵. You can visit a branch for information about its accounts and mortgages⁵.

Beyond day-to-day banking, Progressive offers support for members in difficult situations. It provides Bereavement Support for members sorting out financial matters after a death, and for members experiencing financial abuse it says its trained team will deal with concerns privately, in a sensitive manner²⁰.

If something goes wrong, complain to Progressive first, in a branch, by phone or in writing. If the Society cannot resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, you have the right to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹. The ombudsman is free and independent, and can look at complaints about savings and mortgage services from eligible consumers. If you want to check whether a financial service has followed the rules before or during a complaint, Citizens Advice sets out how to do that.

Your money is protected. Progressive states that it is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme¹, the UK's statutory scheme that pays compensation to customers of financial firms that fail. Deposits are protected per person per firm, so if you hold savings with Progressive and with another society that is a separate firm, the protection applies separately. Progressive's entry can be checked on the FCA Register under number 161841⁴.